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cleo6666

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Everything posted by cleo6666

  1. Thanks for the kind words. I'm two weeks post removal of "her". I asked to keep her, but they wouldn't let me. Here's a sad story.... SCAR TISSUE Yes it's there and it builds up around that band and when you band comes out, that scar tissue is still there and it is hard and it has to find a home. So my scar tissue ended up sitting right below my large scar. The one where the inserted the port and the place they also cut to take it out. Ugly. The scar tissue, hard to explain, sits low hard and tight. While the skin above it hangs and is loose. You know the fat rolls on your back? Think of having one of those right over your port. I cried when I went into the office today. I was my follow up visit from my surgery 2 weeks ago. I was kinda hoping they had left something in me and they just take it out and make that ugly roll go away. But they got it all out and the doctor started telling me about the scar tissue and I started to cry. My skin is beautiful. And tan. And now....it is gross to me. The good news is I wasn't running around in a bikini then and won't be now! The doctor says as the scar tissue softens I may see a flatter surface. Maybe I can't wear as tight blouses. I've kinda been enjoying that. Well I've been cheating for the past week because I haven't been able to exercise but now that I've got the doc's permission to back to the gym...I'm going! Fully clothed of course! Thanks for listening. July 2006: Preband-173 June 2009: Start medi weight loss-169 NO band-156 (7 weeks) Goal.....130 (2 lbs a week x 13 weeks = 26 lbs!!!! Target date.....Novemeber 2! Good Night
  2. Well friends on the forum, It's time to say goodbye. After 3 years, I decided to have my band free. With some prayer and some luck, my insurance covered my removal. It's been a tough 3 years and thank you so much for this forum for helping me through the hard times. Aside from being sore, I'm ok. Just groggy. Sure hurts more when it comes out, that's for sure! Hopefully my days of burping are gone! I am ready to feel better now. I still believe in the lapband. It just didn't work for me. I guess I was in that 1-2% who's body reject the band. Also, I learned a lot about eating and my own digestive system. Eating healthy and eating LESS is the only "weigh" you will ever loose weight!!!! You can cheat this band! That is for sure. I know I did. Remember...sugar goes down really easy. Happy to say...I've lost 13 pounds in about 7 weeks, but it was by total calorie restriction and will power. It's really hard. Don't forget...excersize. Because when that weight starts going down, those muscles start working (finally) and they really do help with the fat reduction process. Take care Bandsters. Best of luck to all of you! Your friend, Michele
  3. You mean like the Bernstein Bears? :-) No, never heard of it. I am trying something new similar to Adkins (not adkins) with very low calories and the vitamin B12, plus I take a fat burner 3 times a day, a multi vitamin, and 2 tablets a day of calcium because I'm not drinking milk. 2nd week weigh in....only 1.8 pounds loss. Here's the bad news..... I'm feeling GREAT last week on MON, TUES and WED...better than I have in months. Still burping like a drunk sailor, but I've learned to live with that. I get home from Church Wenesday night and my lower back starts hurting. I think it's maybe my period starting or maybe my band is acting up as usual. My burping gets worse. I fall to the toilet in the bathroom and have the dry heaves. It's like some bad episode of drinking...but without drining! I chop it up to another..."great tonight is going to suck because my band is evil and it hates me night".....but I end up spending all night on the floor buckled over in pain. I'm thinking...constipation? gas? bloating? did my band slip? what the He-LL is happening????!!!!!! I finally get off the floor (after not sleeping from 10pm-4am) and hobble into bed where i get 2 hours of sleep before it's time to get up for work. I tell my husband...no can go to work today. The first time I've thought I'd called in in ages. And for about 5 hours I laid in bed feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. I'm like...THAT'S IT...THIS BAND IS COMING OUT!!!!! I'VE HAD IT AND I'M TIRED OF FEELING TERRIBLE ALL THE TIME! Then I called 9-1-1 EMS came and clocked my heart at 220 a minute. Couldn't even find a blood pressure because my heart was racing so fast. Finally after 3 injections of this horrible stuff my heart slowed down and they could actually drive the ambulance to the hospital. I kept telling them about my band. They insisted it was my heart and IS my heart and NOW I have heart problems!!!!! UGH!!!!!! I'm better now (with the heart) and have new meds for that however... my burping is getting worse and worse. I am scarred to get on a plane and fly to TJ and have them CUT me open and take out my band. Wow. That was a mouthful. Sorry. Needed to vent.
  4. Oh my gosh! I do hope you are ok. I've read through this post so fast I will have to re-read it again. I too have had lots of problems, never knowing a band or port could move. I had to go by ambulance to the hospital Thursday because of what I thought was my band trying to kill me again. My heart rate was at 220 with no blood pressure to be found because they couldn't read it with that rate. They got me slowed down and calmed down and now i think it's my "heart". Keep posting please. Prayers for you from South Carolina. Michele
  5. What numbers? Like weight and bmi? I'm only 158, down from 168.41lbs I was 173 when banded. My fat mass is 56.61lbs, down from 63.61 My fat % is 35.8%, down from 37.8% ( for my height and weight i should be between 23-34%) WE SEE WHAT HAPPENS!
  6. Is anyone getting vitamin shots? I started a new weight loss program on June 10 and have lost 10.5lbs. My BMI is down to 28.9 My weight loss hasn't moved in 3 years. This is the most weight I've lost in 3 years. I really think it's the shots. If any of you have read my history....I've had a lot of problems with my band. I hope it's finally MY TIME to LOOSE WEIGHT!!!!!
  7. The lines in Charlotte today were OUT THE DOOR! Don't think this will be a quick in and out meal :-)
  8. How many incisions and do you have scars? I am almost 3 years post op and I can barley see my scars! I do remember that after surgery they will have a little gooey stuff on them that holds the skin together instead of stitches. It comes off soon after in the shower with warm water. They will tell you all about it at the hospital. If I was tiny (am not) and was planning on exposing myself in a bikini (in my dreams :-) I don't think anyone would notice my scars! :-)
  9. Can you wear a mask on the plane to help with the recycled air? The kind I am thinking about are the ones you can buy at Lowes or home depot to use during housing projects or I see some people wearing them here in SC to help with their allergies. Do you think it will help? My mom just got back from Vegas and she has been sick for a week.
  10. www.fitday.com Free and easy way to track calories.
  11. Just a suggestion...try applying for a passport at your local police station. I know it sounds scary to send away your original birth certificate. I can't tell you how many people flipped out when we would tell them that at the police station at the department I used to work for. The good news is...YOU WILL GET YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE BACK. You can also pay to expedite your passport, but it will cost you! I had lost my original birth certificate, so I contacted the hospital where I was born and they sent me a new one. I think it cost $15. :-)
  12. Hi Forum, I am almost 3 years post op. Just got home from my regular (not band) doctor here in SC. I am seeing him because I have been burping for 2.5 years non stop. Guess what? It might be from the soda I have been drinking since 4 months post op. JUST a precaution.....the carbon in soda (can't remember the oxide) but it contributes to the burping which in turn contributes to the terrible uncomfortable feeling I have been having almost 3 years. Also, through my learning, we swallow air every time we eat and drink. If that air doesn't escape properly (at least for me) there is horrible gas. And another thing....DRINKING through a straw can supposedly contribute to the gas. I am no expert, but I have been researching this for quite some time and would just like the gas to stop. Seems as though it may never stop, but I am switching to a diet high in fiber with no....MEAT, BREAD, CAFFINE or SODAS as of today to see if it helps. I am also starting on a stool softener. Anyone who's read my "drama" for the last 2.5....wish me luck! Soda=not good Michele
  13. What are you having for your nutrition? I am very interested to know what your diet is. Great Job! :-) Michele
  14. I have been burping for over 2 years. If you find a way to stop it....please tell me!
  15. Getting into TJ is quick....getting out takes forever! My friend and I took a taxi from the clinic to the boarder line and got "bambooseled" by some guy that for $10 each he "drive us across border real fast". Well 45 minutes later the van left the parking space and it took 45 minutes just to get to the actual crossing by foot gate. We didn't drive across the boarder like we thought we would. The clinic has a good deal.
  16. Did you get oxygen the way I described it to Michelle? I don't remember ????
  17. April 3, 2008 I can outburp any sailor in the Carolinas. Please someone help me get it to stop. I have..... 1. HAD ALL OF MY FILL REMOVED 2. TRIED STOPPING DAIRY AND DRINKING SOY INSTEAD 3. HAD AN ENDOSCOPY AND A COLONOSCOPY THE FIRST WEEK OF FEB. 2008 (IN US) BY A GASTEROLOGIST WITH NO SIGN OF "ANY" PROBLEMS 4. HAVE HAD A BARIUM SWALLOW AT A HOSPITAL IN SOUTH CAROLINA (THEY TREATED ME LIKE A FREAK OF NATURE) AND THEY SAW NO PROBLEMS 5. TRIED TUMS 6. TRIED PROLISEC 7. AM ON MY 3RD DIFFERENT ANTIBIOTIC TO POSSIBLY CURE A PARISITE INFECTION Maybe I am a freak of nature. I am so jealous of those of you that this has worked for. It hasn't worked for me. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Michele from SC
  18. I was banded in July of 2006 and I STILL have shoulder pain. I buy those heat patches and they seen to help me.
  19. Just wondering....is everyone else feeling hardness where their port is? I've had a tough time with my band and I am considering having it removed. I'm almost 2 years post op and I feel like there is a baseball under my skin. IF you have your band removed....does anyone know if this will go away? I think it's scar tissue. I wonder if that can be eliminated or will it just stay there forever?
  20. Thanks for writing that. I have been banded since July of 2006 and it has been a tough road for me. I have lost little weight. Most recently, I flew to WA after months of misery and several visits to doctors. All of them, except the last one, told me to have it removed. I just had a colonoscopy to see if that was the problem...that was fun! They found nothing. NOW....I have NO fill and I am so scarred that I am going to start eating and eating and gain tons of weight. My challenges now are to work out more and eat less. Exactly what I was doing before the band. I don't regret getting the band. I just don't know if it was right for me. Living in beautiful sunny SC! Michele
  21. Good info...thanks. When I had surgery in Mexico...I lived in Seattle. It was an easy, quick and free trip to San Diego/TJ. I went 4 times the first year. Now I'm in the dirty south. So far...far away. :-?
  22. You know....I think I hate my band too. I really thought that I would loose more weight. I've tried alot of things like "excersize" and "eating healthy". It just doesn't seem to work. I had a low BMI to begin with, so maybe that is the problem. Maybe it's genetics, or maybe it's some evil payback for spending all the money I did on the surgery. Doctors in the south think I'm some kind of a freak because I have a lap band. I don't know if they just don't see many here or what. I can open a magazine any given day and find 10 plastic surgeons in Charlotte, and the doctors here all think I should go back to Mexico (ooooh...evil place according to them) and have it removed. Not giving up though. Good luck today. I want a fill. I think I was unfilled in April and now...I think I'm empty. Go figure? Chow 4 now. M
  23. Curious....when you go to TJ for plastic surgery, what do they recommend if you have complications? I live on the east coast and that is one heck of a drive if you have a problem. I live in plastic surgery kingdom over here in Charlotte. But it is sooo expensive. I got quoted in June for $11,500 for just a tummy tuck and love handles. Then I still had to get a $400 compression garment custom fitted to me to wear after the surgery. I almost did it, but the cancellation they expected to have that following week went ahead and made her surgery. Can't help but wonder what I would be like if I'd have had it? Good luck with your choices. Michele
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